Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Peeps chocolate dipped strawberry creme-flavored marshmallow chicks - Made by: Just Born - Why: Getting a little love this Valentines day from my Peeps is OK in my book. - Click here to learn more about this treat.

Monday, January 30, 2012

This weekend Allison and I went to a movie here in Athens and we discovered one of the strangest, and possibly most disgusting movie snack ideas ever. The theater is promoting ruffles chips with a side of nacho cheese sauce and BBQ sauce. I'm not sure if this idea is a traditional movie snack here in Greece, or if it's an attempt to simulate the popular trend of nachos and cheese at movie theaters in North America. If it's a Greek creation, I think I have to rethink my past statements saying that all Greek food is fantastic. If it's a take on North American theater food, then I'm thinking some lines got crossed somewhere. In my entire life I've never seen potato chips offered with BBQ sauce or cheese. Sure BBQ and cheese flavoured chips are OK, but the texture of the chip cannot hold up to the wetness of these two sauces.

On a side note, I've discovered that some theaters in Greece offer cheese Doritos with cheese sauce as their nacho chips. Call me a purist, but a plain corn chip is the only chips worth dipping in cheese sauce.

Candy News - According to the many e-mails and postings I've received in the last few weeks, it would appear that Valentines Day is coming up. If you're a candy maker and you want me to mention your Valentines candy treat be sure to let me know. It looks like it'll be a good year for Valentines Day treats as well since the candy industry is doing so well financially.

What's Happening At Candy Critic - We're tirelessly trying to update www.candycritic.org with a new look and a cleaner navigation. We hope that this new look will also be friendly for your cell phone and tablet devices as well. As soon as the new look is up, that's not the end of the updates either. We've decided to dedicate ourselves to going over some of the older entries and fixing up the grammar and spelling. This is not an area where we're perfect, but I think we have improved over the last few years. I'm also working on a new photography project that involves slices of bread covered in... well, anything. I hope to have something on the blog soon about it, I just need to work out a few bugs first.

Rant - With the new updates the thing that's really troubling me is the old articles from www.candycritic.org. Back before we had a blog, I used to post non-review related rants and ideas as articles on the site. I kept them online for all these years, but frankly some of them seem outdated, and others seem kind of hidden in the background. The thing is, once in a while people send me e-mails about particular articles and how much they've enjoyed them. The plan is to pull them off the website and re-post most of them on the blog, do you think this is a good idea?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

I can't help but make up a silly song to the tune of "Whip It" by Devo, every time I have a treat with the word "whip" in it. Today's review is no exception and I spent a great deal of my day wondering how to incorporate peanuts into the words of Whip It. The task was not easy, and my results somewhat pathetic, but I was persistent, so persistent that Allison has banned me from singing it ever again.

Friday, January 27, 2012

I don't always love to give good reviews, but I'm always flattered when someone has nice things to say about this site. Amanda had kind words about us on "World Start", and I'm so honored. I'm also a little worried that she gave such high praises to Candy Critic's navigability because we're working on a huge overhaul right now. Well thank you Amanda for the kind words, and I hope our new look and function works for you.

In an attempt to find a picture to celebrate this holiday, I realized that I have not had a slice of chocolate cake in a really long time. The only picture of a chocolate cake that I could find in my archives was more than a year old. This is not a good thing.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

It wasn't that long ago that candy companies used to brag about things like, how much milk, was in each bar. It used to be OK, to talk about what good ingredients are in your bar, but no longer. Advertising regulation seems to limit how much you can say about the positive things in a treat, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

While I do enjoy many different nuts brittled(?) peanuts are truly the classic treat to have covered in caramelized sugar and then re-hardened again. Many people complain that peanut brittle is the most dangerous of treats, because of the injuries possible to the inside of your mouth. Those people have probably never tried high quality peanut brittle, because the texture should be crunchy, but it shouldn't break like glass.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

All over Greece, there is just a huge selection of halvah. For those that are unfamiliar with this dessert, it's a sweet found mostly in and around the Mediterranean, most often it is made with sesame paste, but as I've learned there are more varieties of the stuff than you can possibly imagine. Halvah is really a mystery food for me, as a kid I knew about it in the standard North American form (pictured above), but since moving to Greece and traveling around, I've discovered so many versions of this treat with a vast range of textures and flavours. The strange thing is, I've sampled probably several dozen different halvahs, and the inexpensive store brand stuff is still my favorite. This cheap stuff is very similar to the stuff you find in most places in North America. Maybe I like it because it's familiar, or maybe I like it because it often comes with a chocolate flavouring. That still isn't going to stop me from sampling many more.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Allison ordered a bento box at a Japanese restaurant, it sure looked tasty. Other than the salad being a little brown, everything was scrumptious. I should know because I insisted that I sample her food for her, you know, to make sure it's up to the standards that I'd want Allison to eat. Only the best for my lady.

The only thing she didn't share with me, was what I can only describe as the cutest little chocolate muffin ever made. It's strange, little tiny desserts are really cute and not a disappointment at all. You'd think that because of their small size, i.e. less dessert, I'd be disappointed with tiny after dinner sweets, but I'm not. They seem to make up for their lack of size with their sheer little cuteness.

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of peanut butter on its own. I believe that even on bread, peanut butter requires another flavour and texture to balance out it's sticky texture and nutty flavour. I'm a big fan of jam, fruit, and chocolate with the sticky nutty butter.

I don't like the idea that chocolate is produced through child labour, it's an idea that keeps me up at night and makes me feel guilty about this whole site. It appears progress is being attempted, I just hope it works.

I love Andy Carolan's illustration depicting a hamster stuffing his cheeks with a bonbon. In my opinion hamsters are one of the cutest (and stupidest) creatures on earth. Stuffing their cheeks with food is also one of the cutest (and strangest) things they do.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Over the last few weeks, and over the next few weeks I'm doing some major upgrades to Candy Critic. I'm re-designing the look of the site, I'm getting rid of some really old, out-dated content, and I'm moving some stuff around so it's more organized. It's a huge job, but something I feel should be done. I've also decided that over the next few weeks I'm going to focus on reviewing treats that should have been reviewed a long time ago. Things like this weeks review, the Toblerone. So keep an eye open for our new look, let me know if there are any classic treats you haven't seen posted, and let me know if anything I take down or move should be brought back.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Cadbury UK seems to have created a rather strange campaign that has something to do with the upcoming Olympics in London and the Cadbury creme egg. Or at least that what I think it's related to.

I'm not sure how I feel about these pictures. They're strangely erotic, gross, and appetizing, all at the same time. Having said that Cadbury is fairly well known for some strange advertising campaigns that eventually turn into standards. Take the Cadbury bunny for instance, a clucking bunny is really strange, but now it's just the Cadbury bunny and not strange at all.

Ever wonder what made Dylan Lauren get into the candy business? I don't, I mean who wouldn't want to be in the candy business. I'm sure if Donald Trump, Bill Gates, and Oprah could think of a good candy idea they'd do the same.

It's been a bit of a bumpy road, this Viennese review-a-thon. At least two treats probably weren't actually made in Austria, one treat had an obscene name, and another had an authenticity problem. I can safely say that the treats available in Vienna, and all of Austria, are fantastic, but they are fraught with controversy.

Speaking of candy stores, Sugar & Plumm Purveyors of Yumm a candy store in New York has had to calm down the "garish" look of the store to keep the neighbors happy. I'm not sure that I'm cool with this.

A new girl is joining the M&M's character family, Ms Brown. "Ms. Brown has her own distinct personality, which is rooted in her wisdom, high intelligence and sharp wit."

There's two reasons I wanted to post this advertisement. First of all I have wafers on my mind, don't know why but I just do. Secondly last Monday was National Fig Newton Day, and I wanted to celebrate it, even if I was a little late.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, Vienna has a love of Mozart, and in particular they have a love of these Mozart chocolates. I knew I couldn't have a Viennese review-a-thon without including these somewhere. The problem is that many candy companies manufacture these chocolates and I couldn't pick which brand to buy.

I decided that the best way to deal with this, would be to randomly pick out two brands of these round chocolate balls and inspect them. I'd then pick out the one that, just by appearance, I felt would be the best candidate for review.

I did a little research and learned that when these chocolates first came out, one of the selling points was that they had no flat edges. Instantly after inspecting these two candidates, even in the package, one seemed more authentic than the other.

But I didn't want to simply stop there, the best way to inspect a chocolate is to slice it open. My guess, that the perfectly round chocolate being much higher quality over the one with the flat edge was proven correct even further. The round chocolate had so many more layers and just looked so nice. After this quick inspection my final choice, without tasting anything, was the round chocolate.

I did taste both, the round one you can read about in the review, the flat one... Well it was OK, it might have even had more flavour than the round one. The problem is the flavour was just a super sweet marzipan, and nothing else. I think I made a good choice.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I'm going to do something that I don't normally do, I'm going to go a little further in the blog about the candy I just reviewed. In this case this treat truly deserves about as much write up as one could possibly imagine. It was a fine treat, it was tasty and original, but this treat also has the best (and most obscene) name that I think any innocent candy has ever had.

I'm not really sure what or who "Dickmann" is, but he sure has an unfortunate name, particularly if he wants to start marketing his namesake candy in the North America. I'm also hoping that if he gains a great deal of success and moves to North America, that Mr Dickmann does something to make sure his kids aren't brutally teased in high school. I would suggest either changing his last name, or giving away free Super Dickmann's to all of the kids at school.

On a side note, the packaging for this is also worth mentioning. It has to be the most protective package I've ever seen for any treat ever. They're fairly fragile, so it's useful, but most candy companies don't really think about this kind of thing. The packaging was so good that I managed to fly my Super Dickmann's home in my suitcase with very little damage.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Earlier this year I discovered that Nutella and yogurt taste really great together. Although I've always enjoyed yogurt with sweet things, like jam and honey, I never really made the connection between yogurt and sweet treats. As it turns out Nestle already had a plan to take my mixing of sweet treats and yogurt to a new level.

What we have here is vanilla yogurt with a handful of mini Smarties (the British/Canadian kind). When I first saw this snack I thought it might have been a pudding treat and I figured the addition of Smarties seemed pretty normal. Once I figured out that it was yogurt I was pretty amazed at the creativity and bravery of Nestle to put this snack on the market.

The packaging was also really creative as well. With a nice crease built into the divider of the two container, all you have to do is tip the Smarties side and they pour into the yogurt. Fortunately I didn't get this mixed up because that would have been a pretty bad mess.

Other than the creativity of mixing yogurt with candy, the texture of this treat was really great as well. Smooth cool yogurt with crunchy Smarties was really great texture. I don't think chocolate alone would have given the same texture and it probably would have melted as soon as it hit the yogurt.

Not that the M&Ms didn't melt, in fact after a few minutes I had streaks of colour running all through my yogurt. Although I think the candy shell managed to hold on long enough for me to eat the whole container of yogurt. The only thing that I might change in this treat is the sweetness of the yogurt. Maybe taking down the sweet vanilla flavour might have given the yogurt a better contrast to the M&Ms.

Well it seems I'm kind of ripping you guys off with my regular Viennese updates. Or maybe I'm ripping of the Austrian people instead. The first treat in the Viennese review-a-thon was made in England but had the word "Viennese in the name. This particular treat was probably made in Germany or Switzerland, but I bought it on my recent trip to Vienna. That's why it's qualifying, in my book, to be in this weeks Viennese review-a-thon.

Monday, January 16, 2012

I came across these great pieces of edible hard candy art. I'm always impressed that the detail people can get out of hard candy, and I can appreciate the skill it takes to get such detail.

What blows me away most of all is the fact that these images aren't abstract. I'm fairly familiar with the process of making this kind of treat, but I can't wrap my mind around how you create the pattern to make an understandable image.

For those that doubt that candy making is an art, these treats should really change your mind on the subject.

Once in a while I come across a food product that surprises me. These products, although clever, surprise me because I can't believe no one had come up with this idea until now. They seem so simple, but for some reason it took this long to come up with them. This container of Philadelphia chocolate cream cheese is exactly such a product.

It's not a hazelnut spread like Nutella, or it's not a chocolate sauce either. This is chocolate, Milka chocolate to be exact, and cream cheese blended seamlessly together. What you get is one of the creamiest milk chocolate flavours I've ever eaten in my whole life.

What it does to crackers (how I ate this) is turn them into the crust for your mouth sized chocolate cheesecake bites. It was just like eating one of the smoothest chocolate cheese cakes and best of all you could choose how much cheesecake filling you wanted for each bite. While I'd like to congratulate the folks at Philadelphia cream cheese for making such a product, I'd also like to tell them that it's about time.

For day 2 of our Viennese review-a-thon we've decided to stick to candies actually made in Vienna. This treat is not only made in Vienna, but it might be one of the most popular treats to ever come out of this country. It's also one of the most pink candies I've ever reviewed (packaging wise).

Sunday, January 15, 2012

For the first review in our Viennese review-a-thon I thought I'd be a little clever. This particular treat I actually bought in England, but it's a Viennese themed bar. For the rest of the week however I'm going to feature cool treats I picked up on my recent trip to Vienna. But that's not all, today is also national Strawberry Ice Cream Month. It really has nothing to do with today's review, but it's a good excuse to go get some ice cream.

Last week I wrote about some of the great baked treats available at the Christmas markets in Vienna this year. It's not surprising that there were so many baked treats at the market because, Vienna is a city covered in bakeries. In fact I can remember there being about 3 convenience stores in the neighborhood where my hotel was located, but I can remember at least 15 bakeries. They really go nuts for baked goods and desserts in Vienna. Needless to say, on this trip I made sure to sample as many of the fine desserts that I could, some where traditional, other unconventional and strange (in a good way). I've decided to highlight my favorite traditional and my favorite unconventional desserts that I sampled on this trip.

When it comes to "traditional" desserts in Vienna, nothing is more so than the sachertorte, or sugar cake. Of all of the desserts and sweet treats that people told me I "have to try" in Vienna, this one ranked the highest. While I can't say it's the best dessert I've ever tried, I can tell you that it's one of the most original and detailed cake I've ever tasted. You might think it's a simple slice of chocolate cake, it is in fact so deep with mixed flavours that it's pretty astonishing. There are fruit flavours (apricot I believe) found in thin layer of jam. There are sweet, almost spiced, cake layers, and a subtle chocolate icing. This is a cake that could be messed up so easily, but with proper proportions, it's really a taste experience that shouldn't be missed.

As far as unconventional desserts go this plate resembling a plate of spaghetti wins hands down. It wins not only because it's very strange looking, but also because it was really tasty. What you have here is a plate of ice cream spaghetti covered in hazel nuts and Nutella. Vienna is actually full of many gelato and ice cream shops and they focus on sundaes and themed ice cream desserts. Ice cream desserts here are as big and ornate as the crazy palaces and concert halls found throughout the city.

This treat wasn't simple by any means at all. Not only did it have the ice cream noodles, Nutella sauce, and a hazel nut top, but it also had a cream filled center. I can easily say that this is one of the most creative sundaes I've ever eaten in my entire life. Best of all it was also one of the tastiest sundaes I've ever eaten in my entire life as well. The ice cream was fresh, the nuts came in a variety of sizes so each bite was unique, and the Nutella... well it's Nutella, and that's awesome.

Another great thing about desserts in Vienna is the love of fun teas to go with your dessert. I particularly fell in love with all of the varieties of fruit teas available. Most of them had a very strong berry theme, and these tart flavours went really well with the many sweet desserts available.

I love the big heads on these Star Wars guys, in this commercial for Brisk ice tea. I wonder if they're going to release yet another version of the movie, only this time all the characters will have comically large heads. Now that's a version worth re-buying.

The folks at Bazooka in the UK wanted to show me their new gummy treats based on Moshi Monsters. They sent me a couple of packs and I wanted to make sure this review got out super quick. So I decided to make a special review update just for the occasion.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

As usual, while on vacation I find myself often eating fast food. It's not that I have anything against the stuff from a health point of view, I just find myself wondering why I go to fast food restaurants when I'm visiting a place like Vienna with a great selection of restaurants all over the place. In this case it has more to do with the fact that breakfast at my hotel is 15 Euros each day and frankly I'm not willing to pay that kind of dough for a slice of toast and some eggs. So McDonald's has been the breakfast of choice for most mornings on this trip. It's been pretty tasty as well, not to mention the fine German greeting I get every morning on the top of my box.

I can't say I was suffering with this fast food breakfast. In fact the McDonald's hash brown is easily one of my favorite fast food staples. Even cooler, here in Vienna, they call the hash browns "Rosti". So every single morning I got to walk up to a nice lady working at the local McDonald's and ask her for a "Rosti on the side". I'm convinced she had no idea what "on the side" meant because her English was almost non-existent, but it got the point across.

To make things even better, in Austria, they offer a breakfast sandwich that has a "Rosti" inside it. It comes with tomato, lettuce, cheese, some kind of mustard/mayonnaise, a slice of sausage, and a rosti. While I wasn't a big fan of the sauce, the rosti fit in really well. If this idea has not taken off in other parts of the world, I recommend you take matters into your own hands and try it yourself.

As a side note, Allison ordered an Apple Juice one morning and when she tried it out, it was carbonated. The orange juice I drank regularly was normal, but the apple juice was carbonated. Is this some kind of Austrian thing?